The Fifth Servant

The Fifth Servant by Kenneth Wishnia takes place in Prague in 1592, depicting the tension between the Catholic church and the Protestants - and the Jews caught in the middle.

Benyamin ben-Akiva, a newly arrived scholar from Poland, is the fifth servant for the Jewish community. He is in charge of calling men to prayer and helping keep peace in the ghetto.

Shortly after he arrives he is tasked with the most important case of his life - a young Christian girl is killed and the Christians are claiming blood libel, that the Jews killed her for her blood to be added to the Passover matzo. The fact that even the Catholic church, still in the heat of the inquisition, has ruled that Jews are forbidden by the Torah from consuming blood, does little to help.

ben-Akiva has three days to find the killer of the whole ghetto will be punished - that most likely trigger a pogrom killing most of Prague's Jews.

Wishnia has written a compelling historical mystery which includes much Jewish law. Fans of Maggie Anton's books (Joheved, Miriam, and Rachel) will find similarities in the amount of Talmud and Mishnah included in the story.

Wishnia, Kenneth. (2010). The Fifth Servant. New York: William Morrow.